Page 48 of My Vows Are Sealed

“Is that your way of saying you’re tired of lugging my bag of bricks around?”

“Not as long as that arm’s still in a sling. I’m just saying, how awesome would it be?”

She snorted. “It would be pretty awesome. You should patent that before someone else does.”

As we approached our table, Kate, Ashton, and Naomi were already sitting there, and I saw Kate gasp and smack Ashton’s arm. She hadn’t been in the room yet when I walked Darla to Bio this morning, so I guessed this was her first time seeing us together since we’d made it official. Ashton looked in our direction, and I swear, I could hear them squeal from twenty feet away. Now that I thought about it, they hadn’t seen us together yet either.

Darla tried to turn around and walk away, but I grabbed her good arm.

“We can’t avoid this forever,” I chuckled. “Might as well get it over with. And it’s coming from a good place with them. They all love you almost as much as I do.”

“Ugh.Fine,” she groaned.

I led her over to the table, where she sat down next to Naomi, and I sat on her other side…after relieving myself of the extra seventy pounds I was hauling around. Seriously. Rolling backpacks. They needed to be a thing.

“Sweet baby Jesus, miracles do happen!” Ashton exclaimed.

“It’s about fucking time!” Kate said excitedly.

Darla and Naomi both looked at her with wide eyes, but I just laughed. I’d never heard her use a word that strong before, but I couldn’t really say it surprised me.

“What? This is major. The word ‘fuck’ is absolutely acceptable in situations like this,” she defended.

“Admit it, dollface. You’re just glad we’re not the only couple in this group anymore,” Ashton teased.

“Damn right. Now we can spread the teasing around,” she giggled.

They snickered and turned her head for a kiss.

Darla looked at Naomi, who had been silent since we got to the table. Naomi gave her a small smile, but something seemed off about it. I couldn’t place it, but I could tell she was upset about something.

“They’re right. It is about time,” she chuckled weakly.

“You okay, Nay?” Darla asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just tired. We missed you yesterday.”

“Sorry.” Darla flushed bright pink. “Brendan and I had a lot to talk about.”

Naomi giggled and hid her face, and Darla groaned. I couldn’t help laughing again.

How had it ended up being the case that most of my best friends were female? I was surrounded by estrogen…and I actually didn’t hate it. The people at this table were some of the most important people in my life. Really, the only other people I would have needed to complete that list were Heather and Nathan. And maybe Alex, when he wasn’t being a jerk. I hadn’t really talked to him in a while, though. I probably needed to fix that.

“Not justthat,” Darla scolded her. “There was a lot I had to tell him, and yeah, it ended in him asking me to be his girlfriend again, but that wasn’t really the reason we had to talk.”

“Or maybe my nefarious plans worked perfectly because you think that,” I teased, kissing her temple.

“Okay, but you guys actually didtalk, right?” Kate prodded, staring Darla down like it was a contest.

She nodded. “Yeah. We did. He knows everything.”

For a second, I was shocked to realize that Kate was asking Darla if I knew about the abuse. But then I realized it made perfect sense. She trusted Kate and Ashton, and they had no connection to the church or her father, so they were safe people to talk to. Maybe I should have been upset that she’d trusted someone with the truth before me, but I wasn’t. Not even a little bit. I was just glad she had people she felt safe enough to share with.

I draped an arm around her shoulders and gently pulled her into my side, and she looked up at me, cracking half a smile. I put my hand under her chin and stole a kiss, which earned us a round of “awws” from the table. Predictably, she turned bright pink and buried her face in my chest, which made me chuckle.

“Okay, is it possible for you twonotto be adorable?” Kate teased.

“Look who’s talking,” Naomi chortled.

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